The European Commission released a multi-faceted plan to boost e-commerce in Europe on 25 May. The plan includes provisions to increase the transparency of prices for cross-border parcel delivery, with an eye to lowering prices as a means of increasing European e-commerce.

What exactly is meant by transparency? Who needs visibility into what, and why?

Based on a preliminary reading, the Regulation on e-commerce that the Commission has just proposed seems to be very much in line with the general principles that we sketch out here.

High cross-border parcel delivery prices as an impediment to cross-border e-commerce

Almost 4 billion parcels are ordered online and delivered every year in the EU. The potential for e-commerce is however far greater – while 44% of consumers buy online in their own country, far fewer (15%) order online from another country. One of the biggest obstacles is the high cost of cross-border delivery. EU consumers could save over €11 billion each year if they chose from the full range of goods and services available when shopping online. Cheaper and more transparent pricing could also encourage more retailers to sell online.

The Commission announced in its Digital Single Market (DSM) strategy that it will work on improving regulatory oversight in the parcel sector and will look into the issue of price transparency, including the prices for basic delivery of parcels for small retail shippers.[1] Express and courier shipments are generally felt not to be an issue, because many firms in this space are vertically integrated and compete with one another. The prices that small shippers pay for basic delivery are widely felt to be the area where concern is warranted.

 

The article's full-text is available here.

Back to CIRSD recommends